NBC Nabs Bryan Cranston-Produced ‘The Dangerous Book For Boys’ Comedy

On the heels of his double Emmy win for Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston has made his first major TV sale as a producer — single-camera comedy The Dangerous Book For Boys. In a very competitive situation, the project based on Conn and Hal Iggulden’s guidebook has landed at NBC with a significant penalty and a premium license fee. Superbad director Greg Mottola is writing and directing the adaptation for Sony Pictures TV and Cranston’s Moon Shot Entertainment production banner, which has a first-look deal at the studio.

Dangerous Book For Boys is described as an irreverent family comedy about three teenage boys who are given a dad’s guide to living lives full of adventure after he passes away. Mottola executive produces with Moon Shot’s Cranston and James Degus.

This has been a passion project for Cranston, who optioned the rights to the best-selling 2006 British book in June and helped shape up the idea for the series. Sony TV has kept all key auspices of its acclaimed AMC series Breaking Bad in the fold, with stars Cranston and Aaron Paul under first-look deals and creator Vince Gilligan in an overall agreement. All three were victorious at the Emmy Awards last weekend, where Breaking Bad swept the drama series categories, including best drama series, for its final batch of episodes. Cranston won his fourth best drama actor Emmy and shared in the show’s best drama win in his capacity as a producer.

Dangerous Book For Boys is a collection of tongue-in-cheek advice for boys on 80 topics, including how to climb a tree, build a treehouse or a go-kart and grow a crystal. It was published in the U.S. in 2007 and was previously optioned as a feature by Scott Rudin. Moon Shot and Mottola are repped by UTA, which also reps the book. Brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden are repped by Victoria Hobbs.